Film Info

This masterpiece by Jean-Pierre Melville about the French Resistance went unreleased in the United States for thirty-seven years, until its triumphant theatrical debut in 2006. Atmospheric and gripping, Army of Shadows is Melville’s most personal film, featuring Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and the incomparable Simone Signoret as intrepid underground fighters who must grapple with their conception of honor in their battle against Hitler’s regime.

Current Posts

On Five

Today, we’re celebrating what would have been Jean-Pierre Melville’s ninety-ninth birthday. In a filmography that ranges from psychosexual dramas and bracing chronicles of the French Resistance . . .
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Photo Galleries

Big Screen

Film Essays

Beware, major spoilers ahead. Elegant, brutal, anxiety-provoking, and overwhelmingly sad, Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 Army of Shadows was released theatrically for the first time in the United . . .
Read more »

Film Essays

Jean-Pierre Melville’s film Army of Shadows (1969) gives a dramatic account of the extreme dangers faced by the French who resisted the German occupation of 1940–1944. The time of the story is . . .
Read more »

Photo Galleries

Film Essays

Beware, major spoilers ahead. Elegant, brutal, anxiety-provoking, and overwhelmingly sad, Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 Army of Shadows was released theatrically for the first time in the United . . .
Read more »

Film Essays

Jean-Pierre Melville’s film Army of Shadows (1969) gives a dramatic account of the extreme dangers faced by the French who resisted the German occupation of 1940–1944. The time of the story is . . .
Read more »

On Five

Today, we’re celebrating what would have been Jean-Pierre Melville’s ninety-ninth birthday. In a filmography that ranges from psychosexual dramas and bracing chronicles of the French Resistance . . .
Read more »

Photo Galleries

Big Screen

Clippings

In a new article for Moving Image Source, critic and Cineaste editor Richard Porton peeks behind the stony facade of the most unlikely of French movie stars, Lino Ventura. Before he came to . . .
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Film Essays

Beware, major spoilers ahead. Elegant, brutal, anxiety-provoking, and overwhelmingly sad, Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 Army of Shadows was released theatrically for the first time in the United . . .
Read more »

Film Essays

Jean-Pierre Melville’s film Army of Shadows (1969) gives a dramatic account of the extreme dangers faced by the French who resisted the German occupation of 1940–1944. The time of the story is . . .
Read more »

Press Notes

Criterion’s release of 10 Years of Rialto Pictures has critics giving thanks to the esteemed distribution company this holiday-time. Introducing his interview with Rialto cofounder Bruce . . .
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